Sometimes the most interesting part of a painting can be the artist himself. This is the case with a portrait of Lord Byron that is hung over the fireplace in the Library of Newstead Abbey. Although it is a good portrait of the poet, it is somewhat similar to the famous portrait by Thomas Phillips which was painted in 1813 and shows Byron in his familiar pose looking to his right. However, this portrait was painted by the infamous Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
Wainewright was born into an affluent family which was part of the London literary society in Richmond, London. Thomas was orphaned at an early age, but profiting from his father’s connections with the literary world, he embarked on a literary career. He wrote for The Literary Pocket-Book, Blackwood’s Magazine and The Foreign Quarterly Review.
Owing to his extravagant lifestyle, he got into debt and in 1830 insured the life of his sister-in-law for a sum of £18,000. The insurers refused to pay out due to misrepresentation. Wainewright moved to Boulogne in the July and was seized by the authorities as a suspected person and imprisoned for six months. He had in his possession a quantity of strychnine and it was suspected that he had poisoned his sister-in-law, his uncle, his mother-in-law and a Norfolk friend. These charges were never proved. However, on his return to London in 1837. He was arrested on a thirteen year old forgery and stock transfer charges, found guilty and transported to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania).
